The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-06-15
RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION.
no 1TAFFECTS TEE DEVELOPMENT
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

no 1T AFFECTS 1t l. OE 1LoA - ~
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
The Address Delivered Before the State
Press Association. by Wn. NJ. Jones
ESQ. Editor of the SpartanburS Herald
The press of South Carolina ha:
strongly counselled diversity OF crop;
and diversity of industry. 1t has done
so forcibly, repeatedly, almost nnanl
mously, but without avail. It is not my
purpose tonight to adduce arguments
to support the wisdom OF this counsel
but to seek the cause which has made ii
so barren of results and to seeA
remedy.
UNJUST RAILROAD DISSEMINATION.
The prime cause Of our continuance
in our pernicious course lies in the policy
OF the railroads OF unjust discrimination
against our home industries in favor OF
their foreign competitors.
HOME AND ssFoEE1GS" FREIGHTs.
1t appears on the surface that the
prosperity OF a railroad depends OF the
prosperity of the country which sup
ports it. This is a partial fallacy. 1t is
the interest of the people 70 buy nothlng
which they can make proftebly; 1t Is to
the interest of the railroads for the peo-
pie to buy rything abroad, and raise
cotton only to pay the debt; to have no
local factories, to produce nothing which
they consume. Before the War OF Sc
cession, when the people produced what
they used and used what they made,
there was little demand for railroad SER
vice, and their traffic was light.
Now, when we bring our meat from
Ohio, our corn from Indiana, our Hour
from illinois, our molasses from Loulsl-
ana, our shoes from Massachusetts, and
our clothing from New York, and when
We ship our whole cotton crop to pay
the debt, the traffic of the transporte :1on
companies has become immense. Ihe
production of these thiass at home
would materially diminish the business
Of the railroads. Hence it Is the interest
of the railroads to suppress all home
manufactures and shut up agriculture to
cotton planting alone. In this class OF
interests the railroad managers have not
scrupled to sacrifice the welfare of the
State. They have accomplished ter
purpose by an exhorbitant and outrage
Gus discrimination against State erser-
prises in favor of their foreign ccm9eti-
tors.
CRUSHING THE HOME MARKETS.
In this day of sharp rivalry the mar
gin of profits, without which no lnous-
try can live, has become SO narrow tAat
the freight rates control its existence. a
low freight may foster, high freight
viii strangle it.
But profits rest even more absolutely
on competition, and this, too, depends
on the arbitrary will Of the railroad
rulers. I may secure just and reason
able freight rate under which my buSi-
ness can prosper; # railroads please to
favor my competitor with lower rates he
can undersel me, draw away my custcn,
ruin nv business and drive me from TIE
field. 1t is thus that the giant Standard
Oil monopoly was built up and its strug-
Cling rivals crushed to death. It is thus
that the giant factories OF the North are
able to strangle our struggling factories
in their infancy.
The discrimination practiced against
the shippers in Sor.th Carolina Is enough
to paralyze almost any enterprise.
SOME PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
A gentleman contemplated the estab-
Gshment of fertilizer factory IN Spar
tanburg. It is found that the freight
rate from Spartanburg to Wellford, dis-
tant on the Piedmont Air Line - miss,
is $3.50 carload, or Sl.46 mile; the
rate from Richmond, Va, is 10 cents 3
mile, Discrimination Of nearly 1,4GO
per cent. in favor of the foreign shipper.
There could be no claim by the railroad
in this case for extra expense IN hand
ling, for the shipper IS required to load
his own car, and the railroad is to haul
it at its convenience. The rate to
Pscolet, on the SpartanDurg and Union
Road, y miles distant, IS the same,
$3.50 a carload.
We have in Spartanburg struggling
door and blind factory. The freight to
Greenville, thirty-two miles distant, OF
the Atlanta ana Charlotte Air Line is
S32 carload, or 81 mile. The same
freight from New York to GreenVllle Is
70 cents per mile.
These Instances are not exceptional,
and I have mentioned Spartanburg only
because the rates there were more easily
attainable. Other cities will be found
in like circumstance, and other rates in
like proportion. Instances could be
multiplied indefinitely. By reference to
the report of the South Carolina railroad
commission we find that the average rate
charged to foreign shipper, Greenvlle
a1d Columbia Railroad, for each to-. Of
freight was nine mills per mile; for
South Carolina shipper to home con-
sumers ffty-six mills per nile, dis
elimination Of nearly 600 peg cenS
against our South Carolina producers.
Is It strange that in the face of such dis
elimination our local enterprises Ian
guish and die, and foreign factories
usurD our home market?
srEc1AL RATES FOR COTTON FACTORIES.
There Is one class Of factories which
have been tostered by lie railroads, and
they have prospered. They sro the cot
ton factories. Their products are ngt
specially intended for home corsump-
ton. Their goods are shipped prinei-
pally to foreign markets, and their
growth does not diminish railroad busi-
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